Bleak, beautiful, scary and wonderful.

Rating: Null/10 (27 December 2002)

I've waited a long time for a British film like this. For years we've put up with being below par in the movie stakes and have fudged our name further with pandering, soggy efforts like "Four Weddings" and "Notting Hill". Danny Boyle previously hit the vein (pardon the pun) with the fabulous "Trainspotting" but now he has finally produced something that a horror fan as hardcore as myself can appreciate.
The setting is London, devastated by a rage-inducing virus unleashed by unwitting but well-meaning animal activists (like the recent mink release that devestated our wildlife). The virus spreads fast and no-one is immune - simply because no-one is immune to natural rage. The infected turn on the uninfected - ignoring their counterparts as did the zombies in the Dead Trilogy by Romero. Our two heroes (there were three but one was swiftly put out of his misery after a blistering attack by the infected) join up with a pleasant chap and his daughter and head north to a supposed safe outpost manned by troops. On the way they risk life and limb but encounter some peace in the countryside.
Once at the outpost all hell breaks loose and the action is fast-paced and satisfyingly graphic. There are few quiet moments in this film but those that are present are moving and beutiful (Jim's grief at his dead parents and the horses at the countryside ruin) and the whole film is one of the best I have ever seen.
Those that are vacuous enough only to like big production values and big names should steer clear. There are no witty Americanised one-liners here - only a realistic vision of a possible present fuelled by the overindulgence of consumerism and self-servience.